Jet sales to Pakistan haunt Canberra

By Daniel Flitton

Jet fighters supplied by Australia to Pakistan could be used to launch nuclear-armed missiles, thanks to a controversial military hardware deal almost two decades ago.

As alarm spreads about Pakistan's slide into civil chaos, new evidence has emerged that ex-RAAF Mirages have been involved in tests by Pakistan of cruise missiles, which could carry a nuclear payload.

The former Hawke Labor government sold 50 Mirages and spare parts to Pakistan in 1990, provoking anger from rival India, which said at the time that the deal could destabilise the region. Pakistan has since developed a cruise missile that can be launched from fighter aircraft, and which it claims carries "all types of warheads".

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Pakistan's military announced the successful missile test in August this year, with television footage showing a Mirage jet taking off and firing the missile and the weapon in mid-flight.

Media in Pakistan later identified the jet as the Mirage III EA fighter, a type believed to be part of the previous RAAF squadron.

Sam Roggeveen, a former intelligence analyst specialising in weapons technology, has published details of the missile test in an internet blog for the Lowy Institute for International Policy, The Interpreter. "There's a good chance that an aircraft sold by Australia is being used by Pakistan to improve and enlarge its nuclear arsenal," he said.

Pakistan tested a nuclear weapon in 1998, drawing international condemnation and triggering its suspension from the Commonwealth organisation.

The Mirage was Australia's main strike fighter from 1965 to 1988 before it was replaced by the F/A-18 Hornet. Due to their age, the leftover Mirages were difficult to sell and the Government eventually dropped a $100 million price tag to $36 million to secure a sale to Pakistan.

Pakistan agreed not to sell the jets to a third country without Australia's approval, but otherwise had free rein on their use.

Robert Ray, then defence minister, defended the sale at the time despite questions about possible efforts by Pakistan to use the planes to deliver nuclear weapons. "I would not regard the Mirage . . . as fulfilling that particular role," he said in October 1990. "For the most part, those Mirages will be used as spare parts."

Senator Ray could not be reached for comment yesterday.

After criticising the deal when in opposition, the Coalition has since supported the sale. After a tense stand-off between India and Pakistan in the late 1990s, Liberal senator Eric Abetz told Parliament: "If they had not bought (the Mirage fighters) from us, they would necessarily have got them from somewhere else."

India imposed an informal freeze in dealings with Australia after the sale, but relations thawed in subsequent years. Australia recently agreed to explore the prospect of exporting uranium to India, despite claims the uranium could end up in a nuclear weapon. The Howard Government has denied the claims.

Pakistan has obtained Mirage fighters from countries other than Australia and Mr Roggeveen warned that determining the precise origin of the aircraft used in the filmed missile test was difficult.

But regardless, he said Australia had indirectly added to regional nuclear proliferation. "Even if the test aircraft involved is not ex-RAAF, those 50 planes and associated spare parts have helped Pakistan keep its overall Mirage III fleet viable," he said.

He noted Pakistan was yet to prove its technical ability to mount the warhead on a cruise missile, and would probably use a more up-to-date fighter in any launch in anger. But in retrospect, Australia's decision to sell the Mirage to Pakistan looked irresponsible, Mr Roggeveen said.